The Dilemma of Life
by Sakura Kaijuu
Summary: Completely AU: Sakura is 25 and at the top of her game. Her constant overachieving has paid off. But what will happen when she meets up with old friends and new business partners? Not telling couples p P.S.: If you can think of a better title, tell me.
1. Chapter One

Disclaimer: Why do copyrights have to exist? They make me sad. Anyway, Naruto isn't mine.

A/N: I don't generally do AU fics. Well…not AU in the sense of completely different reality. But I got an idea for this one. And I don't want to say the couples immediately, cuz I think that takes part of the fun out of it. But that's just my opinion. Enjoy!

-- Sakura Kaijuu

----

Haruno Sakura sighed. This was the most boring meeting she had ever attended. She leaned one of her elbows on the table and rested her face in her hand. Her shoulder length pink hair fell slightly in front of her aqua green eyes as she made another face. Why did people insist on using PowerPoint presentations? Especially when they read EVERYTHING ON THE FREAKING PAGE.

Sakura's life seemed to be on a downhill run. All throughout her school career she had strived to be the best. And she had been. She graduated valedictorian of her class and had received many scholarship offers for college for her efforts. In college she struggled, but in a satisfying way. She had double majored in English and anthropology. When she graduated she had been confident in her abilities to obtain a job to her liking.

Right out of college a major advertising firm had hired her on spec. Between the ages of twenty-two and her current age, twenty-five, Sakura had climbed the ladder almost as high as she could go. She was a top executive within the corporation, renowned for her people skills. But she was running out of things to go for. She was hitting the peak of her performance before she was thirty. And she worried about it.

"—and Miss Haruno will be meeting with the representative from Dragon Industries in order to secure the job for their new toy, Little Faerie Bu," the voice penetrated through Sakura's self-reflection.

She looked up to see every pair of eyes focused on her and hastily sat up. She smiled. "Of course, sir."

The head executive raised his eyebrows and moved on. Sakura looked around at her co-workers to find that she was still attracting amused looks. She sighed again in exasperation.

----

Sakura got home to her upper-middle class apartment that night to find several messages on her answering machine. She hit the play button and walked away into the kitchen to make herself some dinner.

"Hey Sakura! It's Ino. I was wondering if you wanted to get together again sometime. It's been so long since we've talked! And I have something exciting to tell you. But it has to be in person. So nyah! Talk to ya soon."

beep

"I hate answering machines. They're so troublesome. But I guess it's better than nothing. Sakura, it's Shikamaru. I just wanted to ask if you were busy, cuz some people want to get together. And somehow I got put in charge."

beep

"Sakura. This is Danno Ichiro. I'm just leaving the details of your meeting with you for tomorrow. You will be visiting the office of a man named Hatake Kakashi. He's going to go through the basics of his ideas while you treat him to lunch. He may have associates. He hasn't given us that information yet. Remember that we need Dragon Industries."

beep

As the last message played, Sakura sighed again. Her boss was ruthless. And he didn't think much of her. If it wasn't for the fact that everyone else loved her, he would've fired her a long time ago. Like she didn't know that Dragon Industries was a multi-million dollar deal. She shook her head as she sat down on her couch and turned the television on.

She ate her meal of leftover spaghetti and thought about the other two messages. The one from Ino had been interesting. She wondered if Shikamaru had finally proposed. They had been dating since high school. And he was a cool guy. And she wondered what Shikamaru's message had been all about. The tone had been typical Shikamaru, but the content intrigued her. Who wanted to get together? Or was he being cryptic again to keep Ino out of the loop? She'd have to call both of them back. But she'd do it tomorrow.

Sakura spent the rest of the evening watching tv. Between the news, the dramatic comedies and her weakness for cartoons time passed quickly and she suddenly realized it was eleven o'clock and she had to go to bed to be presentable tomorrow.

----

She awoke the next morning right to her alarm. As she stumbled her way to the bathroom to shower she thought about her business meeting today and what to wear to be presentable. She decided on something kind of sexy, since her main focus would be on Kakashi, and that would make the best impression.

Still wrapped in a towel she went to her closet and looked through her possibilities. She wound up picking a deep red button-up shirt with a collar and short sleeves that showed off her bust quite well and a black knee length skirt. After she dried her hair she put on a thick, black cloth headband that added something childish and fun to the outfit. After her finishing touches of mascara, eyeliner, and a light coat of lip gloss, she went back to her closet and picked her most comfortable pair of dress shoes, simple black flats with a rounded toe.

She looked in the mirror and smiled. Excellent. Professional, yet attractive. She glanced at her watch and made a face. Time to go if she wanted to be on time.

----

Sakura arrived at her office right at eight o'clock and smiled at her secretary. "Morning, Kaede."

Kaede looked up from her computer. Her eyes widened as she took in her boss's appearance. "Well, you're out to impress today, aren't you?"

She grinned fiendishly. "Well, the client is a man. And everybody knows what they want."

"Sakura!" the secretary looked mildly appalled. "You shouldn't say stuff like that!"

"Eh…" she shrugged. "You didn't deny it, which means I'm right. I'm going to be busy all day, and I'll obviously be out for lunch, so please don't let anyone disturb me."

Kaede shook her head. Her boss was crazy, but she worked hard to be good at what she did. "Yes ma'am."

----

Sakura spent her morning looking through papers and making notes on how good this company was in comparison to the other advertising firms. She winced when the intercom sounded and Kaede's voice came on. "Sakura, Mr. Danno would like to see you."

"In his office?"

"No, he's right here. He'd like to come in."

Sakura inwardly thanked her lucky stars that she hadn't said anything sarcastic over the intercom. "He can come in. Thank you."

The door opened and the intimidating figure of Danno Ichiro was silhouetted in the frame. He entered and shut the door. Sakura looked at him coolly, "What can I do for you, sir?"

"Sakura, I just want you to understand how important it is that this meeting goes well," Ichiro's dark eyes were boring into her own. She was surprised that he wasn't distracted by her appearance. On her way in every man in the building had turned to stare.

"I know, Ichiro," she replied with a sigh. "I've been working all morning on things to bring up in conversation. I'm taking this very seriously."

He sat in one of the two chairs opposite her desk. "Are you? I'm not sure you're always doing the right thing for the company."

She looked at him in disbelief. "Ichiro, I know you don't like me. Stop trying to get me to quit. This is a good job. Now, if you'd excuse me, I have to go meet Mr. Hatake at the Dragon Industries offices." She stood up, picked up her purse, and left.

"Sakura, if you mess this up, I'll get you fired," Ichiro called after her. All he heard in reply was the slam of the office door.

----

Sakura left the office as quickly as possible and threw her purse into her car. As she drove she worked as hard as she could to control her anger. It was her fatal flaw. Since she was little she had had a problem controlling her temper. The most memorable lapse in control had happened when she was twelve years old. She had punched a boy in the face for making a perverted comment at her.

By the time she reached Dragon Industries she had calmed down sufficiently. She entered the building and went to the front desk. "Excuse me, I'm Haruno Sakura. I'm looking for Hatake Kakashi's office. Could you please direct me there?"

The woman behind the desk looked up at her. "Yes. Fourth floor. Second office on the left."

"Thank you," Sakura sighed and headed towards the elevator. After she reached the fourth floor, she knocked on the office's door. There was a small plaque on the door with Kakashi's name on it.

The door was opened and a tall, handsome man. He had spiky, silvery-gray hair that went off to the side. His eyes were dark and intense. There was a scar over his left eye. "Good morning. Are you Haruno Sakura?"

Sakura blinked a few times before remembering she was supposed to answer. "Uh…Yes! I'm from the Atheia Advertising Agency."

He nodded and stepped aside. "Well, come in, then."

She felt her face turn a little red and she entered the office. "I'm sorry, am I late?"

"Not at all," Kakashi invited her to sit in a chair while he sat behind his desk. "Oh, by the way, we'll be taking two of my associates with us to lunch. It was a last minute arrangement."

Sakura smiled. "That's fine. So where are they?"

Kakashi pressed a button on his phone, "You guys can come in." The door opened again and Sakura turned to see two young men about her own age enter the room. "This is Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto."

Sasuke, Sakura decided, was drop dead gorgeous. He had dark hair that fell into his eyes in the front and spiked out in the back. His eyes were dark and mysterious, and somehow sad. He was tall and lean and looked excellent in his white, collared shirt and black pants.

She turned to study Naruto and as they looked into each other's eyes both their jaws dropped. "NARUTO!" she cried in surprise.

"Sakura!" Naruto looked equally surprised. He had spiky blonde hair and blue eyes. His face also sported three black lines on each cheek. He wasn't entirely unattractive himself.

Kakashi and Sasuke looked at each other and then back at the other two. Kakashi smiled. "Are we missing something?"

Sakura had stood up and crossed the room to look into Naruto's face. "It IS you!"

Naruto smiled in disbelief. "Wow…It's been forever."

"Yeah, high school. And then you disappeared off the face of the earth. Where the hell did you go?"

"College…" he answered sheepishly.

Sakura continued to look stunned and pleased. Then she realized Kakashi had asked a question. She turned back around. "I'm sorry. Naruto and I went to the same high school. I didn't expect to see him here."

Kakashi nodded. "I see. Well, now that you have someone here that you know, maybe you'll be a little less awkward. Shall we go?"

Sakura turned red again. "I'm sorry. Sure."

"It's fine. We'll take my car," Kakashi grabbed his keys.

"But –"

He smiled at her again. He was so gorgeous. "I don't like to play by the rules. I'm going to treat you to lunch. I get the feeling you want to do this about as much as I do."

She laughed. "Yeah, really. If you're not going to give me a choice, then I guess I'll go along with it."

----

The entire ride to the restaurant, Naruto and Sakura talked about what they had been doing. Sakura described her college experience and her jerk of a boss. Naruto told her about how he had decided to go to college after all and then he met Kakashi. "He's only a year older than us. And Sasuke is our age too."

"Man…we're all over achievers, aren't we?" Sakura said jokingly.

Kakashi smiled at her through the mirror. "Yeah. We are. What d'you think, Sasuke?"

"Mm?" Sasuke had been staring out the window. He shrugged. "I suppose so."

Naruto sighed in exasperation. "Sasuke, shut up. You're worse than anyone here. Except maybe Sakura."

"He's got you there, Sasuke," Kakashi pulled into the restaurant. "By the way Sakura, you've got the job. This is just a formality. I've seen the other stuff you've been in charge of. I feel that Little Faerie Bu will be safe with you."

She sighed in relief. "Thank you, Mr. Hatake."

"Just call me Kakashi. The formalities are my least favorite part of my job."

----

Lunch had gone smoothly. Since she had cinched the deal in the car without even trying it was much more enjoyable than her usual business lunches. She got back to her office and packed up some stuff to do at home and told Kaede to tell Ichiro that she had gotten the deal.

When she got home she changed into black fleece pants and a semi-loose t-shirt. She smiled to herself. That had been a good day. And now she needed to call her friends back.

She picked up the phone and dialed Shikamaru's cell phone number. After three rings Shikamaru's voice came through the receiver, "Hello?"

"Hey, it's Sakura. What's up?"

Shikamaru sighed. "Well, Naruto got ahold of me. He wants to see you. And I told him I'd try."

"Really? That's weird," Sakura paused. "Actually, I saw Naruto today. He's working for my new client."

"Huh. Well, then I was put to more trouble than I should've been." Shikamaru sighed again. Sakura heard a female voice in the background. "Ino wants to talk to you."

"Okay," Sakura began to say, but she was cut off by Ino taking the phone.

"Sakura! We need to get together. Do you have time today? We should totally go out somewhere. I think we should go out to dinner. How about today?" Ino rushed.

Sakura smiled. "Ino are you excited about something?"

"YES!" she exclaimed. "We have to go tonight. It's bursting inside me! I invited Hinata too. Please, Sakura? Pretty please?"

Sakura shook her head and laughed. "All right, all right. You win, Ino. Where are we going to go?"

"How about that new place near your apartment?"

"Chez Pierre? But Ino, that place needs reservations! And it's expensive!" There was a brief pause. "Ino?"

"Um…See, that's why it needs to be tonight. Cuz I did make reservations! But you've been so busy and not calling me back!" Ino sounded worried.

"Okay, okay. I'll go. What should I wear?" Sakura gave up. Ino was her best friend. And she obviously had exciting news.

"I don't care. Something fancy. But now I've gotta go. Here's Shikamaru again. Seeya tonight!"

"When?"

"Oh…Uh…Seven o'clock. Kay?"

"Okay. Seeya Ino."

There was some rustling while the phone was passed back to Shikamaru. "Sakura?" Shikamaru's voice came back over the line.

"Yes?"

"I'm telling you right now that Ino didn't really invite Hinata. And I'm coming too. She invited someone else."

"Then why'd she say that?"

"Because she wanted it to look like she was just organizing a girl's night out. Really she's setting you up on a blind date," Shikamaru had lowered his voice.

"Why!"

He sighed. "Because she thinks that you need to get out more. And you haven't been on a date in ages."

"Then your message and Ino's message…" Sakura closed her eyes in order to try to think straight. "…They were talking about the same thing…?"

"Pretty much," he answered. "But it's not Naruto. I asked Ino. She won't tell me who it is though. The most she'll tell me is that it's someone we met in college."

"Great…" Sakura rubbed her temples with her free hand. "Well, thanks Shikamaru. I'll see you later then."

"Yeah. Sorry. Bye," he hung up the phone.

Sakura pressed off on her phone and groaned. "WHY? Why does Ino find it necessary to meddle in my life SO MUCH!" She looked at the clock. It was about three. That meant she had four hours in which to contemplate what she would wear to get ready in general.

She thought of her lunch. That had been so nice. Three cute guys all paying attention to her. And now this evening. She was dreading it a little.

----

A/N: Ha ha! I'm not revealing ANYTHING. Cuz I have so many good ideas! Ha ha ha!

Okay, so that was obnoxious. But that's okay. I didn't know how to make up an excuse for Kakashi to have his mask or the sharingan. So I just didn't bother. And for the record, I think that Sasuke is totally hot in his forehead protector and kinda weird looking without it. And I think the complete opposite in Naruto's case. So for me imagining him with no forehead protector, I'm happy. So anyway, please review!

-- Sakura Kaijuu


	2. Chapter Two

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto characters. Any extra characters that I make up…those I can claim as my own.

A/N: So I just realized how long chapter one was. For me. Whatever. Also, I know I messed with the ages a little. I didn't want Kakashi to be fourteen years older than the others. I think that would've made things awkward and weird. So I just left his age from Naruto alone. If yous have gotses a problem wit it, tough! Deal with it. Or don't read. Don't flame on it though, cuz that'd just be annoying. If you have to flame, please make it about something slightly more substantial than how I've dealt with age.

Please keep reading!

-- Sakura Kaijuu

----

By the time seven o'clock rolled around, Sakura had showered again and picked out a long, flowy black skirt with a flower pattern all over it. For her shirt she had chosen a long sleeved white shirt decorated with iridescent sequins and embroidery. She left her hair in the headband. She liked it best that way.

Sakura walked down the street and sighed. She tried to think of what college Ino and Shikamaru had gone to. It had been a big one. Shikamaru and Ino were very different people, but they had wanted to stay in the same college. Well…Ino did, anyway. Shikamaru acted so apathetic all the time it was hard to tell.

She went in the front doors of Chez Pierre only to see Ino and Shikamaru waiting in the foyer. Ino hopped over to Sakura and hugged her, "Oh, you look so pretty!"

Sakura sighed again. She hugged Ino back and when they broke apart Sakura looked at her friend's hands carefully. She spotted the ring on Ino's finger immediately and smiled. "So he did?"

Ino nodded excitedly and smiled at Shikamaru. He looked away and blushed. She giggled a little and turned back to Sakura. "It was so adorable. He just came home one night and he just took it out of his pocket and asked if I would marry him. Then he got all embarrassed." Ino's grey-blue eyes shone with excitement.

"Aww…Good for you!" Sakura looked over at Shikamaru. He was still avoiding looking at either of them.

Something hit Ino the next moment. "Wait…you don't seem too surprised to see Shikamaru…"

Both Shikamaru and Sakura jerked in surprise. Shikamaru finally looked back at them, first at the back of his fiancée's head and then right into Sakura's eyes. Ino turned and glared at him. "You told her, didn't you!"

"Yes…" he replied meekly. "There was no reason why it had to be so secretive. She came anyway."

After another minute or so of fuming, Ino dragged Sakura to the chairs they were sitting in and set her between herself and Shikamaru. Sakura looked at him apologetically and he shrugged in response.

"Can I at least know his name?" Sakura asked Ino.

"I guess," Ino looked at the doors. "He's already late." She turned to Sakura matter of factly. "He's a year older than us, but he was in a lot of Shikamaru's classes in college. His name is –"

Ino was cut off by a tall man approaching them and looking apologetic. "Sorry, Ino. I lost track of time."

Sakura blinked slowly and looked up. She recognized that voice. It belonged to a tall, handsome man with silvery hair. It belonged to Hatake Kakashi. And that was who was standing in front of her. "Eh…!"

Kakashi looked equally surprised to see Sakura. "Well, fancy seeing you again," he turned to Ino. "So this is who you've set me up with?"

Ino nodded. "Sakura, what's up?"

Eyes still wide, she turned to Ino and pointed at the man in front of her, "This is my client. The one I met today. And got the deal for."

"Oh! So you already know him!" Ino looked pleased. "Let's go eat!"

The four of them approached the restaurant desk, received their table and proceeded to order drinks. Ino got caught up in talking to Shikamaru, purposely isolating Kakashi and Sakura. Sakura looked embarrassed. "So…how was the rest of your day?"

"It went pretty well, I guess. I got back and told everyone that Atheia Advertising would be doing Little Faerie Bu. Sasuke and Naruto were very interested in you," he added casually.

She shrugged apologetically, "I know that Naruto likes me. He always has. We've known each other since we were about twelve. I had long hair then."

"I think he mentioned that once. He told you he met me at school. He told me all about you. About how you were unattainable because you were so caught up in being the best. He envied you, apparently," he held his drink in his hand, watching her carefully.

"More like worshipped the ground I walked on. He was always following me around everywhere. It would have been creepy if it wasn't for the fact that I knew he was completely harmless," Sakura paused. "What about Sasuke? What's up with him? He seemed so sad."

Kakashi looked concerned. "Well…Sasuke has had a lot of family problems. His parents died when he was very young, and his older brother abandoned him. My family kind of took him in. He doesn't like other people very much. But once we got back to the office, he was a little more cheerful than usual. It seems that you and Naruto have that effect on people when you're together."

"Hm…I guess we do," she smiled a little. She looked at his face. Particularly at the scar across his eye. "Kakashi, what happened to your eye?"

He touched his eye briefly. At first he didn't say anything. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times and then shook his head. "No. Not now."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry." Sakura was sympathetic to that kind of story. She had a couple of those herself.

The waiter came and the four of them gave their orders. The rest of dinner consisted mostly of Ino talking excitedly about what she wanted for her wedding and Sakura and Kakashi looking interested and Shikamaru was quiet and slightly embarrassed. Finally dinner ended and dessert was over and it was time to leave.

Ino hugged Sakura again, "It was so nice to see you again! You need to stop working so hard so you can have days like this. Okay?"

Sakura smiled. "I know, Ino. I'll see you later. Congratulations to you two."

"Thank you," Ino took Shikamaru's hand and they started to go, leaving Kakashi and Sakura standing in front of the restaurant.

Sakura looked up at Kakashi. "Did you have a good time?"

"Yeah," he admitted. "I thought it would be much worse than that. It's always nice when you've already met the person."

"I'll second that," she replied. "I gotta go. I have work tomorrow."

Kakashi shrugged. "So do I. That doesn't mean I'm going to go home and sleep right now. The night is still young."

"It's ten o'clock," she said matter-of-factly. "I need to look good to be good at my job. It's part of being the major social lieu of a company."

"Hm…" he looked mildly amused. "So that's why you looked so good today at lunch."

She looked away and blushed. "I didn't think you noticed."

"Sakura, as Naruto put it later, you were smoking hot. You know how to make yourself look good for your clients," he gently moved her face back into eye contact with him. "But I just think you're pretty."

Sakura started and pulled away from him. "I…I have…I have to go."

"Did you drive?" he asked, nonplussed by her reaction. When she shook her head, he looked around. "Do you live close?" A nod. "Hm. Then I'll walk you. It's not polite for a gentleman to leave a lady to walk home alone in the dark."

She started walking, knowing that Kakashi would follow her no matter what she said to try and stop him.

----

They arrived at her apartment building and as Sakura unlocked the door, Kakashi looked at the building approvingly. Sakura noticed that he was still standing there. "Would you like to come in?" she asked nervously.

"If it's not a problem, sure," he followed her down the hall to the elevator and watched her press the button for the sixth floor. When the doors opened again Sakura led the way down the hall and unlocked her door. She stood aside and waved him inside before her. He stepped inside, "Nice place."

She sighed in relief. "I'm gonna go change. You can make yourself at home."

As he went to sit on the couch and turn on the television set, she escaped into the peace of her room. She was having a mild panic attack. He thought she was pretty. And Naruto still had feelings for her. And Sasuke was so gorgeous. And she had to work with all of him. This deal was all hers. And she had no idea how she felt about any of them.

She quickly threw on a cute t-shirt and a sweat jacket and her fleece pants. They were comfortable. She left her room to see Kakashi looking around from his seat on the couch. "You want some coffee?"

"Yeah," he said. He stood up and walked over to meet her in the kitchen area of the apartment. "I'm sorry if I freaked you out. It's true though. You're very pretty. But if I can trust everything Naruto told me, then you just don't take full advantage of it. Why do you work so hard all the time?"

Sakura moved around the kitchen getting out the coffee and filling the filter with water and finding mugs. When she finally stopped and leaned on the counter, she answered his question. "Because it's the only way for me to feel accomplished."

"Really?" Kakashi looked interested. "Why?"

"Just because," she replied, pouring the coffee. She handed Kakashi one mug and held the other in both hands, sipping it slowly.

They drank their coffee with silence between them and the noise of the television in the background. Kakashi emptied his mug and placed it down on the counter. They both looked at it and then at each other. "Thanks for the coffee."

"No problem," Sakura felt that it would be better to keep things short and sweet. "I'll talk to you soon, okay?"

"Right. My superiors were wondering what kinds of things I based my decision on. And I know you had notes. Can I have them?" he asked bluntly.

Sakura sighed and rolled her eyes. "Yes…" She walked over to her briefcase and handed him a stack of papers. "I need them back. Ichiro will want to see them at some point."

"Ichiro?"

"My jackass of a boss," she made another face.

"Ah." Kakashi flipped through the papers, "Excellent. You really do work hard, don't you?"

"Yes. But now I need to do some of the work that I didn't do this afternoon. Ino freaked me out. If I had known it would be you, I wouldn't have been so worried, and I could've actually done some work," she sighed again.

"Mm…Yeah, Ino's good at that, isn't she?" Kakashi smiled again. He started heading towards the door and Sakura followed him. Before he opened the door he turned back to her, "Thank you, Sakura." He kissed her on the forehead. "Good night."

He didn't wait for her reaction. He just opened and closed the door. Sakura stood in her mini foyer, temporarily dumbstruck. Then she shook her head. She could feel herself being red. She took a deep breath and turned around, rubbing her forehead. That was weird. But she had other things to do.

----

Kakashi was pleased with himself all day. Even Naruto and Sasuke noticed that he was more smug than usual. "Why are you so happy?" Naruto asked bluntly.

Kakashi smiled. "I had a great night last night."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and continued looking over Sakura's notes, making his own. Naruto narrowed his eyes and looked suspicious. "Doing what?"

"The opposite of whatever you're thinking of," Kakashi replied, still smiling. He wandered over to Sasuke and stole a paper from the done pile. Sakura was really amazing. It was too bad she lived vicariously through her work.

Naruto raised his eyebrows. "So you were at a _gay_ strip club and got laid later?"

Even Sasuke couldn't suppress a snort of laughter. Kakashi closed his eyes and slowly laid the paper back on the desk. He looked up slowly at his associate. He blinked. "No."

The blonde man smirked. "Then what did you do?"

"I went on a date," Kakashi replied guardedly.

Sasuke's interest in his boss's affairs had been piqued by Naruto's big mouth and wrong ideas. "With who?"

"That, boys, is none of your business." He remembered what Sakura had said about Naruto. He didn't want to break his heart. He didn't want to give her up either. But he didn't want to crush Naruto entirely. When he had met Naruto he had been pretty down. He still was, honestly. He just hid it.

Naruto laughed derisively and grinned at his superior. "So was it a one night stand?"

Kakashi rolled his eyes. "No."

Sasuke snorted again. He was starting to get an idea of what was going on. "Did Ino set you up with someone again?"

After thinking about it for a second, Kakashi decided that it was a harmless question. "Yeah. It was one of Ino's friends. She was really excited to tell her that Shikamaru finally proposed." He meandered back to his desk and sat down. He started writing out his ideas of how to advertise Little Faerie Bu.

Naruto looked up sharply. He had known Ino for a long, long time. About as long as he had known Sakura. He knew that Sakura was Ino's closest friend. And Shikamaru had been saying that Ino was setting something up to see Sakura. That was why he couldn't see her last night. Not that he had expected to see her at lunch.

But Naruto wasn't stupid. He knew how to put two and two together. He tried to sound nonchalant as he opened his mouth again. "So Ino set you up with Sakura?"

Kakashi looked startled. He looked between Naruto and Sasuke. Sasuke was focused on Kakashi, obviously waiting for a reply. He looked surprised, but not upset. Sasuke was good at hiding, though. Naruto's face, on the other hand, was absolutely blank; a sure sign that he was crestfallen.

He sighed. "Yes. She did. And we had a good time."

"Mm," Naruto looked back at his work. Then he stood up. He didn't look at either of them as he headed towards the door. "I'm gonna take my lunch early, okay?"

He didn't wait for an answer before he left the office.

----

A/N: Awww…I made myself sad now…I broke Naruto's heart. And for the most part, I'm a die-hard NaruSaku fan. Sorry SasuSaku fans. It's unlikely. Possible, but unlikely.

Oh well. It's an excellent cut off point. Hooray for angsty cliffhangers. Muahahaha.

I know that all of chapter one was Sakura's POV, but I decided that from then on was in need of multiple viewpoints. This is still a very Sakura-centric fic. My sister is my beta and when I asked if anyone was OOC (tell me if you think they are), she said Sakura got kinda weird. Which told me that I needed to hop into other people's heads.

Sorry I haven't been writing much. I'm just getting distracted by school (Who knew that art school would be so demanding of my time? And my mother wonders why I don't have a job…) and roommate problems. Mainly being kicked out of the house I'm living in now by one of my roommates. Her parents own the house, and she doesn't like that my other roommate and me are not the world's neatest people in the world. OCD to the max.

But now I'm ranting, and I shouldn't be. I should just shut up and let you wonder what will happen next time in the life of Sakura, Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke. Probably not much with Sasuke. I'm having a hard time feeling sympathy towards him at the moment. I just finished catching up in the anime, and the entire Sasuke leaving saga made me cry. EVERY EPISODE. Just like what the manga did. So I kinda think he's a jerk right now. It's why I haven't updated _A Twist in the Mission_ lately. Sasuke is becoming important, and I'm feeling awkward writing about him. I might get over it soon. I dunno. I hope so.

In any case, after this enormously long author's note, I suppose I should shut up and let you wonder where Naruto's going, what Kakashi's going to do, how Sasuke's going to react to this whole thing, and what's going to happen with Sakura. Have fun! ;p

-- Sakura Kaijuu


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